Context elaborations – level 7 dance

• Relationships and connection
• Invention and creation
• Embodiment and performance

The context elaborations mirror culturally responsive pedagogies.

Each context elaboration is coded, using the summary notation recorded with each strand. A bold strand code indicates a dominant strand in the given context. If both or all codes are bold, they are considered to have equal weighting in the given context.

Relationships and connection

The contexts for learning outlined below make links to the dance key concept of relationships and connection.

Possible context – performing traditional dance for a community event

(UC, PK, CI)

• From Aotearoa or the Pacific, select and investigate a traditional cultural dance form (for example, kapahaka or sasa) appropriate for performance at an interschool cultural or a local community event.
• Extend and refine performance skills in the selected dance by participating in a series of workshops, taught or led by a tutor or whānau member from the local community.
• Learn the dance and use video recordings of rehearsals to refine performances.
• Undertake a learning inquiry to find out about the traditional materials used in costumes, props, and facial or body adornments within the chosen dance form.
• Perform the dance at the festival or community event and reflect on the experience of performing and of watching the other dances.

Possible context – development of dance genres over time

(UC)

• Investigate the influence of individuals, social movements, and cultural factors on dance genres, for example:
  • Louis XIV on ballet
  • Isadora Duncan on modern dance
  • Katherine Dunham on jazz and early musical theatre
  • Christianity on Polynesian dance forms
  • slavery on early American jazz dance
  • martial arts on Brazilian capoeira, or carnival/street festivals on samba.
• Share findings as a class in an oral presentation.

Possible context – exploring a rich legacy of dance

(UC)

• Students share ideas about early developments in modern contemporary dance as they investigate the impact, influence, and legacy of the lives and works of renowned dancers and choreographers such as:
  • Louie Fuller
  • Martha Graham
  • Isadora Duncan
  • Ruth St Denis, Ted Shawn
  • Doris Humphry
  • Jose Limon
  • Merce Cunningham

• The students could explore the practices of recent and current pioneers of contemporary dance in New Zealand including, for example:
  • Michael Parmenter
  • Douglas Wright
  • Shona McCullagh
  • Neil Ieremia
  • Mary-Jane O’Rielly
  • Jack Gray
  • Louise Potiki-Bryant.

• Students could compare the experiences, training, and contributions of recent or current practitioners in a genre to those of early practitioners or pioneers, for example, the dancers listed under the first bullet point in this context.

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Invention and creation

The contexts for learning outlined below make links to the dance key concept of invention and creation.

Possible context – safe ways of giving and receiving weight in dance

(DI, PK, CI)

• Explore weight-bearing and counter-balance techniques and their uses and functions as a means of developing interactions between dancers in choreography. Students will need time to:
  • experience and explore these techniques safely
  • develop their confidence in using the techniques creatively.

• Focus on the purpose, functions, and outcomes of each technique in order to see how to use it to achieve an identifiable result. (Especially with boys, guide students on avoiding an emotive/trust-based approach.)
• Working collaboratively in a group of three, and using weight bearing as a central device:
  • create a dance based on ideas or images seen in triptych art works, for example, Hans Memling’s The Last Judgement (1476–1471) or Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights (1480–1505), or other suitable imagery
  • perform the dance and evaluate the use of weight bearing and how it communicates ideas from the art work.

Possible context – solo choreography with a focus on teenage issues

(DI, PK, CI)

• Choreograph a solo dance work based on an important teenage issue or concern, for example, parental pressure, teen pregnancy, or teenage sexuality.
• Select an approach, such as a personal response to the chosen issue or an autobiographical or biographical story of experiences related to the issue.
• Form a choreographic intention that challenges perceptions and ideas about the issue.
• Investigate background information on the issue (finding images, narratives, and recent articles or interviews) to inform and influence the choreography.
• Use these findings to improvise movement and develop dance phrases/motifs within an appropriate dance style to reflect the issue and choreographic intention.
• Select and use a range of choreographic devices, choose an appropriate structure for the dance, and select relevant production technologies (for example a symbolic prop) to choreograph the solo.

Possible context – solo choreography within limitations and constraints

(DI, PK, CI)

• Choreograph a solo dance work based on a predetermined “limitation”.
• Limitations could include restricting the dance area to a 1 meter square in the performance space (spatial limitation) or dancing with a body part other than your feet being in contact with the ground at all times (physical limitation).
• From this point, develop a choreographic intention or idea that supports or reflects the selected limitation.
  • For example: “I want to show, by only being able to dance in a small square, the idea that I am closed off from the world around me – like when I’m grounded and can’t open up or go out and be with my friends, and the frustration I feel when this happens."
• Investigate background information on the intended idea (find images or narratives) to inform and influence the choreography.
• Use these findings to improvise movement and develop dance phrases/motifs within an appropriate dance style to reflect the issue and choreographic intention.
• Select and use a range of choreographic devices, choose an appropriate structure for the dance, and select relevant production technologies (for example, a costume such as a hooded sweatshirt) to choreograph the solo dance.

Possible context – choreographic processes and ways of generating movement

(DI, PK)

• Explore a range of choreographic processes and experiment with ways of generating movement.
• Processes are ways of initiating, conceptualising, producing, and evaluating choreography in dance.
• Consider experimenting with a selected stimulus or purpose, including:
  • images, art works, and pieces of music
  • emotional states
  • current events
  • political or environmental concerns
  • poetry, literature, or dramatic works.

• After selecting the stimulus, develop a choreographic intention or reason for the dance to be created, research ideas, and explore movement possibilities.
• Extend this exploration by choosing appropriate dancers, a dance style, and a method for producing movement.
• Select, combine, and structure movements and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of working with the selected processes over others.
• Throw the dance away and start again. Continue developing a part of it or leave it and try something else and then come back to it.

Note: Not all work in the dance classroom needs to result in a dance being created. There is inherent value in the act of exploring these processes for that sole purpose of taking risks, trying out, and experimenting with movement.

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Embodiment and performance

The contexts for learning outlined below make links to the dance key concept of embodiment and performance.

Possible context – modern contemporary dance genre

(PK, CI, UC)

• Choose one of the following contexts:
  • Learn a repertoire of three dances (each of one to two minutes) from the modern contemporary dance genre.
  • Learn a solo dance based on the technique of Martha Graham.
  • Collaborate (teacher and class) to learn a contemporary group dance using quick entrances and exits, for example, based on the kowhaiwhai patterns present in Kura (choreographed by Moss Patterson), using the “Māori Continuum Dance” concept presented in Stephen Bradshaw’s Mauri, or using a prop (such as poi) as in Mary-Jane O’Reilly’s Poi Canopy.
  • Learn a contemporary duet taught by a guest choreographer based on the giving and taking of weight transfers.

• Perform dances from the repertoire on several different occasions, where appropriate/possible, including: at whole-school or community events, dance showcases, and prize giving or for junior classes.

Possible context – musical theatre genre

(PK, CI, UC)

• Learn a repertoire of three dances (each of one to two minutes) from the musical theatre genre.
• Look at a variety of musical theatre examples and contexts from a range of time periods: more traditional musicals to more modern rock operas.
• Reproduce dances from their contexts in the musical.
• Possible examples of musicals and dances to consider include:
  • “Tradition” from Fiddler on the Roof
  • “Rent” from Rent
  • “Dancing Through Life” from Wicked
  • “One” or “I Hope I Get It” from A Chorus Line
  • “Fame” from Fame
  • “Jellicle Cats” from Cats
  • “King Herod’s Song” from Jesus Christ Superstar.

• Perform dances from the repertoire on several different occasions, where appropriate/possible, including: at whole-school or community events, dance showcases, and prize giving or for junior classes.

Possible context – ethnic dance forms

(UC, CI)

• Learn and perform ethnic dance forms such as Brazilian capoeira or Samoan sasa.
• Investigate the cultural context of the dance forms including where and when they are traditionally performed and for what purposes.
• Examine and learn/practice the movements typical of the dance form.
• Perform the dance with sensitivity to its cultural significance as an external expression of the ideas and the emotions it represents.

Possible context – social dance forms

(UC, CI)

• Learn and perform social dance forms, such as the waltz or 1950s rock’ n’roll or swing dance.
• Investigate the social context of the dance forms, including where and when they were/are performed and under what circumstances.
• Examine and learn/practice the movements typical of the dance form.
• Perform the dance with sensitivity to its social significance as an external expression of the ideas and the emotions it represents.

Possible context – theatre dance

(PK, UC, CI)

• Perform a theatre dance (a dance genre/style that is typically performed for entertainment or artistic purposes) taught by the teacher, such as ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary dance, musical theatre, or kapahaka.
• Learn about the performance features, techniques, and stylistic requirements of the style being performed.
• Perform the dance to communicate a clear understanding of the style.

Possible context – recorded professional dance performance

(UC, CI)

• Examine key aspects of a recorded dance performance from an established group of professional dancers, such as:
  • Kura by Moss Patterson (available on Dance Makers DVD)
  • Poor Boy by Mark Baldwin, performed by the Royal New Zealand Ballet (available on Ihi Frenzy VHS)
  • This Way Up choreographed by Catherine Chappell and performed by Touch Compass Dance Company (available on Contemporary Dance Aotearoa VHS).

• Examine/analyse key features of the dance, including:
  • choreographic features
  • devices such as unison
  • sequential, contrasting, and complementary movements
  • structural components
  • production technologies
  • stylistic features of the context or genre
  • performers and performance setting
  • the ideas, moods, and emotions being communicated to reflect the choreographer’s intention.

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Last updated June 14, 2012

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